About Connie Ness

Connie Ness was in grade school in Fargo, North Dakota, when John F. Kennedy started the Peace Corps. The idea of helping people while living an adventure in a different land stuck with her through high school and college, where she earned a degree in English, and continued while working several marketing jobs in corporate America.

In 1994, at age 45, she joined the Peace Corps and worked as a business consultant in a pueblo of 2,000 in the interior of Uruguay. After her service, she took her own advice and went into business for herself as a freelance writer. She wrote marketing, sales, and promotional materials for business, but the one thing she did not write was a book about her Peace Corps experience—until now, 25 years after leaving Uruguay.